The Directors Guild of Japan announced the news on Thursday, stating that Masuda died at a hospital in Tokyo. A private funeral service has been held by his close relatives.

Born in Kobe in 1927, Masuda was expelled from a technical training school in July 1945 due to a mismatch with its military indoctrination. He later attended the Osaka University of Foreign Studies (now Osaka University), where he studied Russian literature. His interest shifted toward filmmaking after becoming enamored with French cinema, alongside a desire to avoid a career as a salaryman. Following his graduation in 1949, he moved to Tokyo to study screenwriting at the Shintoho Studio’s Scenario Academy.

In 1950, Studio film Shintoho hired Masuda as a screenwriter and assistant director under Umetsugu Inoue, Nobuo Nakagawa, and Mikio Naruse. He served as the second assistant director on Naruse’s Ginza Cosmetics (1951) and Mother (1952). Inoue became a mentor to Masuda, leading to script collaborations and Masuda writing rough drafts for several of Inoue’s projects.

Masuda made his directorial debut at Nikkatsu studio in 1958 and directed numerous live-action movies throughout the 1960s. In 1970, he co-directed the Japanese segments of the Hollywood World War II film Tora! Tora! Tora! alongside Kinji Fukasaku.

Masuda entered the animation industry in 1974, handling the supervision and original planning for the television anime Uchuu Senkan Yamato and its 1978 sequel Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2. He made his anime directorial debut with the 1977 compilation movie Uchuu Senkan Yamato.

Within this franchise, he directed and wrote the scripts for Saraba Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Ai no Senshi-tachi and Yamato yo Towa ni, and handled the script and chief supervision for Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Kanketsu-hen. He also supervised Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Aratanaru Tabidachi, Yamato 2520, and Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Fukkatsu-hen.

Outside of the Yamato franchise, Masuda directed Toei Animation‘s Future War 198X-nen and co-directed and wrote the script for Odin: Koushi Hansen Starlight. His other anime credits include handling supervision for the compilation movie of Umi no Triton and the Sangokushi trilogy between 1992 and 1994.

Masuda was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1993 and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 1999 for his contributions to Japanese cinema.

Source: The Mainichi

All’s Justice is the third installment in the tag team 3D arena fighting games developed by Byking Inc., with this one being a direct follow-up to My Hero One’s Justice 2. I appreciate that the game wastes no time getting into the action, aside from a basic tutorial to reintroduce you to the game’s mechanics. Just a few minutes in and you’re free to explore the city overworld to fulfill missions, battle online, or engage with the game’s story mode, which covers the Final War arc of the anime series. Suffice it to say, this shouldn’t be your main entry point to the My Hero Academia franchise, since a lot of context and buildup is missing from this game, and I don’t think it’s the ideal way to experience the My Hero Academia story.

The voice acting and music remain top-notch, carrying over the original soundtrack and voice cast from the series. When the game goes all out with dynamic, expressive presentation, the story shines. The cel shading on the 3D character models looks great, and some cutscenes use fast cuts and dramatic poses that really take advantage of the 3D environments in a way that rivals iconic moments from the show. However, these moments are few and far between, with most of the story told through awkward still frames from both the game and the anime itself. In fact, some points in story mode look very cheap, as if someone just grabbed a screenshot from the anime to shift around or zoom in on, like it was edited in Windows Movie Maker.

Story Mode offers a variety of branching paths, depending on which character you choose to follow. Whether it’s Todoroki going after Dabi, Endeavor fighting All For One, or Uraraka confronting Toga, Story Mode gives players a bit more variety from previous installments, given that this is the part of the story where multiple battles are technically taking place simultaneously. Even if there is a particular character or play style that you prefer, a lot of these battle scenarios make sense and act as a good vehicle for showcasing everyone’s abilities without compromising the original narrative, unlike a lot of other fighting games that will sometimes need to make up new scenarios just for the sake of showing off all of the characters. Granted, this setup has a tradeoff: less environment variety during Story Mode. There are plenty of fun combat environments to explore in the game’s other modes that perfectly depict iconic areas from the series, but since the final arc only took place at a handful of set locations, like the floating Hero Academy, those are where a majority of the fights take place, and it gets visually dull.

The combat itself is the best this series of games has ever had. Byking Inc. built on the foundation of the previous games, creating a combat system that is fast-paced without feeling as janky or floaty as before. The learning curve is definitely a bit higher here due to the increased speed and character move sets, but that makes sense given this is the third installment and the power levels/abilities of a lot of the cast. However, the controls are still incredibly easy to grasp for newcomers; it just might take a second to fully adapt to how aggressive these characters can be. There are basic attacks that can be executed both on the ground and in the air, with a combo system that integrates the game’s tag-team mechanic, where you can either have your teammates deliver damage or swap mid-combo in order to build up the pain. You can also deliver Plus Ultra attacks or enter an enhanced mode once your battle gauge is full enough to maximize even more damage.

The particle effects and unique animations for everybody’s finisher moves are pulled right out of the series with additional flair that does not feel forced. Whether it’s the story mode or online matches, you’re bound to have a good time for a couple of hours, both by yourself and with friends, especially if you’re a diehard fan of the series. Outside of that, the game doesn’t really offer much. There are a few missions that will put you in unique scenarios, with a majority of them being combat-focused. It can be fun to reach certain achievements with specific handicaps or under different circumstances, but these missions feel a lot like filler. You can cover most of the game’s content in just a couple of hours, but it’s hard to say how much of a shelf life this game has beyond the basics.

Even at its best, there is nothing here that you haven’t seen before compared to other 3D arena fighters. Like the previous installments, this game doesn’t break new ground, even if it is a definitive improvement across the board. If the main goal was to create a fighting game that organically integrated the new moves and forms of all these unique characters from the series, then it succeeded. If you are a diehard fan of the series or have played the previous installments, then you are the audience that is definitively going to get the most out of this game. If you’re not, this game will have limited appeal to you. This game is meant to enhance the experience of an established fan rather than draw in potential new ones.